Recruiting -- A tough sell

Are we about to find out what happens when they give a war and no one comes?

Posted: Monday, July 11, 2005

By By The Capital-Journal editorial board

Recent polls say almost 60 percent of Americans disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq.

Just over half say the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a mistake -- based on faulty intelligence and misleading reports about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Is it any wonder, then, that the military is having trouble meeting its recruitment goals?

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, says the Army's goal of 80,000 recruits this year "is at serious risk," and recruiting trouble will stretch "well into the future." Next year "may be the toughest recruiting environment ever."

The active-duty Army is some 7,800 recruits behind its year-to-date goal.

In an effort to blunt this trend, the administration and the Pentagon have kicked the recruitment campaign into high gear, with Bush urging more people to enlist and parents, teachers and coaches being asked to encourage young Americans to sign up.

Pentagon officials have asked congressmen to stress the importance of military service.

But these days, with the ongoing dangers in Iraq and Afghanistan and with the casualty count growing, it's a tough sell.

"With the deluge of negative news that we get daily, it's just amazing to me that anybody would want to sign up," says Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.

Despite the growing unpopularity of the war, thank goodness there have been no signs that the American public is turning against U.S. men and women who've been called to duty, as so many shamefully did when the United States became entrenched in the Vietnam War.

Regardless of how Americans feel about the reasons we're in this latest conflict, support for the troops -- if not the mission -- is high.